Without a trace workspace

Josh Stapleton

Posted on February 22 2017

Hi again,

Having to bring your work home is about as bad as meeting your accountant on a Monday, sitting on a cactus whilst drinking cold tea. BUT it doesn't have to be. Now, I'm not talking about changing your water cooler with a wine keg, I'm talking about throwing out the window all the falafel (a delicious food but also my word for sh**t). Let loose to create a space that you want to be in and make a space that is the furthest thing you can associate with work.

Often work spaces can be clinical, stark and over organised. Stationery stores may be your haven and nothing's better than that back-to-work/school shop, smelling new books and comparing the ergonomics of pens. Or is that just me being a weird fresh stationery obsessed freak? Actually no. You all love it and you've all been in the aisles sniffing new books. You book sniffers. Although that is fine to fill your workspace with piece by piece pens, notepad, organiser and binder and why not put a fridge in there for the Pinot. Okay clearly someone is have wine withdrawals, also a thing. Fill your workspace with lush plants, a potted fiddle leaf or a hanging Devil's Ivy to draw your eye up to as you daydream about the glass of vino I've put into your head.

So post wine talk, here's some of my top tips for creating a stress free space you actually feel comfortable enough to do work in. DISCLAIMER IT'S NOT MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY. I may be good looking but I don't know everything, these are just some tips and tricks people!

If your space allows think about centreing your desk in the middle of the room or even three quarters out from the wall so you can have seating in multiple places. I find sitting in the one chair in the one spot can often make you feel quite stuck, which can make you just as stuck in the work you are trying to produce. When you get excited or come up with a new notion or idea stand up and move around. I shall call it the new-idea musical chairs, turn on Spotify and bust a move folks.

It wouldn't be a blog post if I didn't contradict myself so even try getting rid of the desk altogether and sit on a comfy chair or well structured arm chair? Now please don't crack out the tv dinner tray table...along with poodle motifs stitched onto skirts they were left behind in the 50's for a reason. The point is to engage with your work, get comfy and replace your desk with a solid cushion. If you're sitting at a desk, you're sitting how you would at work, therefore you're relating to work.

Declutter your space (obvious I know) but a cluttered space means a cluttered mind. You may feel the need to have a filing system, paper tray, address organiser, a spot for your pens and pencils and hole punch and envelopes and spare paper and you may as well have a basket to put your brain in because you're that over organised you have disallowed your brain to actually function. Organisation is key but over-organisation can stop that key unlocking the door to your true potential (I know that's a load of falafel and suddenly you're thinking is this an interior blog or an episode of Oprah...) but keep it simple people and pare it back. Have a notepad to scribble ideas, your computer/ipad, some stationary in a holder and burn a candle that you'd burn in other parts of the house so that you aren't associating that smell with just your work space!

Now, I know I've had some eager questions about the progress of the office in norsu HQ but like a fine wine, the wait is worth it.